I’m proud to have been the first APD officer on the Drug Treatment Court. From that experience I know we cannot arrest our way out of this problem.

Treatment options must be an alternative to incarceration for non-violent individuals. Also we must work to educate our community about how addictive and dangerous pain pills are.

There are no easy answers to this crisis. It will take a community response to begin to tackle this and it will take years. We cannot pretend that issues of addiction and disease can be solved overnight.

“Every officer must be empowered with the necessary training to keep our staff and community safe. That means consistent de-escalation training and ongoing support for all deputies. De-escalation is a proven tactic to make policing safer for the public and for officers. This element of a training program helps deputies assess potentially dangerous situations and minimize the risk of harm for everyone involved.” - Quentin Miller